TDM advice needed

[TNZ]

I'm thinking about playing TDM with some friends again. In the past we played some TDM, but we had no clue how to play it (we were all completely new to this game), so that caused some disappointments, miscommunication, etc... And honestly I still have no clue how to play TDM. On streams you rarely follow 1 person throughout the game, and it usually looks rather chaotic, while such good teams surely have some systematics.

I couldn't find a TDM guide, but I have picked up some clues in the past, but I don't know the complete picture:

- Does everyone in the team cover a specific part of the map (like an item to control)?
- But that seems rigid to me, if one person faces 2 enemies on his spot constantly, he can only fail for 20 minutes.
- Or does the team only focus on a few items (red armor, mega, quad?), and approach those each time in groups? Without any1 having a designated spot?
- How do you communicate in general, what type of stuff should you mention. From my experience the communication often becomes way too chaotic, if everyone is talking about items or frags being taken of lost.
- But I personally find it the hardest (even in CA), to decide when to choose for my own survival, or when to sacrifice myself for the team. I tend to sacrifice myself a lot of times, trying to help someone on the map, but in the end I think it costs the team more than if I would try to stay alive.

Any suggestions are welcome

[Adderall]

tdm is one mode you need to play together has a team. pickups just wont help at all,communication is a big plus via vent/ts/etc

[Lam]

IMHO, watching one guy on stream wouldn't tell you much about the tactics of whole team, at best you can see how to defend certain positions. But if you're into that, there are lots of demos over at ESL (for EMS games) and CB (EC and NC games have some demos posted). Not to mention ESR!

Have you seen levelupyourgame's TDM streams with Disrepute and vor? Most of the casts start with introducing the map ("one team will try to hold this, the other will try to stack up on that before doing that") and then they point out important moves by players ("less experienced players will rush in and die, but he instead went the other way and secured this room with the remainder of his quad").

There was also a great ESL TV TDM stream with 2gd and Joe, addressed to TDM beginners. It was broadcasted around a year ago, maybe more. You should search for the VOD in their archives.

There were streams with voice communication embedded, but not much in English (Holysh1t TV has done that for CTF, not sure about TDM).

I won't try answering your question as it depends on maps and whether you play 2v2/4v4... and I'm noob myself :(

[Salamatiqus]

One of important skills in TDM is keeping yourself alive as long as possible. (advice from pub tdm scene)
You die, they win.

[TNZ]

Yes I often watch streams, and for duel I learned a lot from it, I try to base my game on what I see and hear from duel streams and vods. Many shoutcasters give valuable information, and there are also players like Rapha giving an insight into the meta play (if you watch US vods).

For TDM it just seems much harder, especially if you want to create a team, and have to create tactics for even less experienced players. It's not only about how I should play in a TDM game, but how to let the team play. I will be quite likely the one to create these tactics, and divide the tasks, but I'm also quite clueless, so it feels like a scenario for a John Cleese movie.

I will check that doTheDK site, it seems very good on first impression, thanks for the feedback!